This week was less busy compared to the previous one. We had to record/rehearse, edit music, meet with a tutor, and plan our promotion materials. Hopefully, our progress over the last three weeks will mean we aren’t under unnecessary pressure going forward.
The first activity of the week was to work on the script further. Since the script’s creation, we discussed new additions and editing parts that we thought might not work as well as they could until we reached a penultimate draft. These new movements were to emphasise certain lines or take up more time before another important movement was made, to prevent the piece from becoming boring. On the contrary, the acceptance song was too long, so we had to reduce the length of some movements (e.g., the embrace). We also included directions for lighting for Dan Fox, as he should be controlling the lights during the performance. Our communication networks proved to work effectively again here.
Secondly, we had to finish the last recording parts. I again recorded the guitar parts at home, but this time it was for ‘How You Remind Me’, by Nickelback. To ensure we completed recording that day, as we were behind schedule for recording. The timetable may say different but going off timetable in this scenario was beneficial as it meant we could finish earlier, then check over songs, and create some demos that could be sued for rehearsals.
One area of recording ‘How You Remind Me’ that was up for debate was the double-track backing vocals (not the harmonies). We originally recorded them separately so Pagan would sing over the lines to create a slight delay. However, when I listened back to them, I wanted it to be exactly the same, but with a slight delay. This is something we incorporated in earlier tracks to thicken up instruments or vocals. But on this song, we were unsure on whether to do it or not, but we decided to anyway.
On the other days of the week, we did master. I started the Denial song with Pagan and Bluebell in the room to get their opinions on how it sounded. We discovered that the chorus piano parts were clipping because of too much gain, so decided to remove them, as we couldn’t spend time re-recording parts. However, upon later thought, I believe it was the monitors in the room causing the clipping, as the audio files for the piano were rather quiet compared to other instruments, and when listening through other mediums (speakers and headphones), the clipping was non-existent. Though, I felt the risk of it clipping during the performance wasn’t worth it to add the parts back in.
For the poster, Bluebell has contacted an art student, Leah, to design and create a poster for us based on a photo we will take if she has time. Pagan and I are creating the programme for the show, meant to be informative, to explain the idea behind the play, what the stages mean, etc. and song lyrics to each stage, some hotline numbers for support on bereavement and our website URLs. Originally, we wanted to keep the look of the program close to a normal theatres program however I suggested that it could look like an 'Order of Service' like you would see at a funeral, which ties into the whole theme of the show well.
On Friday, I had to record a solo for another student, however, this only took half an hour. While I was doing this, Pagan was mastering ‘How You Remind Me’. She used templates on logic for the channel eq settings and we added some compression when I got back. However, I think I may have to redo some of the work another time as the levels are inconsistent throughout the track.
For the remainder of the day, we rehearsed. We ran through the scenes chronologically and when we felt something needed a slight change, we’d run that scene through again together. We got through the whole show once, however, did a second run-through of most of the scenes. It would have been helpful if Bluebell was present as she plays a prominent part in the last two scenes. But I took over her role in addition to mine for the benefit of rehearsing.
We had another progress meeting with our tutor Alex Gordon. These are the notes that came up:
Tutor meeting:
[12:00] Alex Gordon
Meeting notes 12.05.22:
Group are mastering and mixing this week- slightly behind on schedule but feel confident they can run into next week to finish
1)12.05- finish 2 tracks mixing
2) 13.05 work on possibly 2 further tracks
3) w/c 16.05 complete last tracks mixing, begin rehearsing piece, begin promotion- posters and Instagram, source a camera to film the event. Negotiate with D Fox regarding dress rehearsal - reflect on this planning process in journal
4) w/c 23.05 create cut outs/gather props etc. Continue rehearsal process
5) All students to continue developing websites/notes, research
We are confident we will finish all our work by the deadline performance (26th of May). The camera and props are small jobs on the side that can be sorted with ease. However, it is the underestimation of the recording/mastering process that might put us under pressure again. Mixing and mastering songs will take a day at a time, and we have only finished one song in that process, meaning four days must fit in somewhere to finish them. These days will be hard to come by when we must rehearse/complete any other miscellaneous tasks. We completed the goals set out last week, except for finishing the songs.
I believe if we had made clearer, more well-thought-out storyboard ideas, we would have fewer adjustments to make to the script. Meaning we can have more productive rehearsal time, which might free up some time to do some more mastering.
Another point of reflection is on recording parts in advance. Now that I’ve done it twice, I can conclude it leads to more progress and saves time. When you start recording and you see that half the song is already done, we as a group feel more enthused to record, and therefore produce better, more efficient results.
Going forward, I think we need to share our ideas as much as we have been doing, if not more. We are delegating tasks between us, and we need to know how each stage of the performance is going. Hopefully, we can finish all remaining tasks over the next two weeks, as we have a lot of small tasks to complete before our deadline (poster, programme, mastering and rehearsing).
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